


Oral Hygiene

by Grimmy88



Category: Left 4 Dead 2
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2018-01-02 17:03:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1059360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grimmy88/pseuds/Grimmy88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick needs to go to the dentist. Did I mention that he hates the dentist?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oral Hygiene

            Ellis tightened his fingers, prepared his legs, and swung the steel chair as hard as he could against his back.

            The man only dropped to one knee but it was long enough for Nick, who was bleeding from the mouth and nose, to hurry to his feet and get out of the way. When the man stood up again Ellis repeated the attack and that sent him sprawling down onto his face and stomach on the floor.

            He dropped the chair and Nick pulled him out of the bar promptly after.

            They stumbled through the crisp fall night towards where their car waited, huffing and wiping at blood, cuts, and pains. Ellis rounded towards the driver’s side and leaned in to start the engine, ready to help Nick get in his seat if needed. He noticed, however, when he looked up that the gambler had paused in front of the now blaring headlights.

            He spat once into his palm and stared for a moment. “Shit.”

            “What? Y’alright?”Ellis crossed to his side, peering at the clump of red within his hand, unable to discern what they were staring at until it was moved into the light.

            Nick’s tooth stared up at them, too white in places and smothered red everywhere else. Ellis took hold of his wrist so he could bend down and peer close.

            “Shit, man, he knocked out one-a yer molars.”

            The northerner didn’t respond with one of his usual biting quips he just rolled the small thing to his fingers.

            “Well,” Ellis began, walking towards the car when Nick did, “I bet he’s still lyin’ on the floor.”

            “Great,” Nick muttered. “I don’t know who has it worse, his back or my mouth.”

            After buckling his seatbelt and making sure his lover was secure, the mechanic pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the main road and chose not to respond.

            He would’ve hit him again, really, but it kind of seemed like overkill. Not that the guy hadn’t deserved it. Sure, Nick had conned him repeatedly out of money in their poker games over the night but that was no reason to bust up a nice, quiet bar with a fight. Especially with a fight that had had Nick facing off with a guy who Ellis was sure would’ve turned into a Tank if he’d been infected.

            So when plowing into his side didn’t work (Ellis had only managed in hurting his own shoulder before being tossed off) and breaking a bottle over the back of the huge guy’s head hadn’t done anything (besides getting an elbow to his stomach and a fist to Nick’s) he’d reached for the chair.

            By then Nick’s eye had already been puffing and his lip was split and that blood was mixing with what had already been streaming out of his nose.

            “You alright?” Nick asked.

            Ellis balked. “Me? I ain’t the one bleedin’ all over the car.”

            “I saw him elbow you in the gut.”

            “I’m alright,” he said with a wave of his hand. Which was mostly true because the deep, heavy pain in his stomach was just left over residual ache that would be mostly gone in a couple hours.

            “Hold this.” Nick dropped the tooth in Ellis’ outstretched hand.

            And the hick stared at it blankly.

            “I was kidding, throw it out the window you idiot.”

            Ellis did so and wiped his skin on the leg of his jeans. “You should see a dentist.”

            “It’ll heal over eventually,” Nick said.

            “Yeah well… when I got my wisdom teeth out I couldn’t eat certain foods an’ stuff ‘cause they didn’t want anythin’ gettin’ stuck or me gettin’ dry socket.”

            The conman, once again, didn’t answer, his was too busy running his tongue over his teeth, evidenced by the searching bubble within the skin of his cheek.

            “Ya listenin’?”

            “No. Dentist’s cost too much. It hurts to talk so shut up.”

            Not that Ellis knew what his talking had to do with Nick’s jaw moving.

 

            Nick winced for the first time the next day when he’d stolen a cracker from the box in Ellis’ hands, shoved it in his mouth, and chomped down.

            Ellis had rolled his eyes before getting up to look for nearby dental offices.

            The second time he’d winced was because his water was apparently too cold.

            So Ellis printed out the list and left it for him on the counter.

            It was still there when his partner winced, yet again, while they were eating a dinner of soft lemon chicken and even softer cooked vegetables.

            So Ellis took the list and dropped it into the pained man’s lap.

            The last time he’d winced was when his mouth was wrapped around Ellis’ cock.

            Now, in his defense, the redneck couldn’t really have been expected to remember the detail of a missing tooth (especially when teeth were strictly not allowed in this process anyway) when there was wet, heat, and then sucking on his skin.

            And he didn’t remember or even notice until Nick had pulled away ultimately causing him to thrust up into sudden cold air.

            And now it was _really_ personal and the next morning he drove the gambler to the dentist.

            Of course it took a lot of wrestling and pulling and bribing to even get the conman in the car. By the time he’d gotten him strapped in he was sure he was forming three new bruises and in debt for a month of foot rubs, blowjobs, and sex that would include all sorts of costumes and all of them his older lover’s choosing.

            Even so, parking and getting Nick out of the car was another ordeal in itself.

            “C’mon,” Ellis urged, holding the passenger side door open.

            His roommate didn’t budge. “This is a waste of money. It’ll heal over.”

            “Nick, you can’t even eat soft food. Now, c’mon.”

            “I’ll be fine; I’m not paying for this.”

            “Insurance’ll cover it,” Ellis protested though he didn’t really know for sure. Not that it mattered, he supposed, because Nick still didn’t move from clenching the legs of his pants in his fists.

            Ellis reached across to unbuckle him.

            “Alright,” Nick murmured. “Give me the keys. We’re leaving.”

            “Get outta the damn car,” the mechanic laughed around the order. He took the arm closest to him and pulled.

            “Ellis, knock it off. I’m fine.”

            “Nick,” the hick returned, “it’s gonna be ten times harder-ta clean yer teeth if ya don’t get it fixed an’ I know you don’t wantchyer teeth fallin’ out.”

            “I’ll be _fine_. I don’t need them poking their fingers around in my mouth.”

            “What?” The younger man laughed again. “What’re you talkin’ about? They’re professionals. They went-a school so they could learn to poke around in yer mouth an’ help ya.”

            There was no response, only squinted green eyes in a squinted pale face. Heartbeats of silence passed, well except for those heartbeats and that horn and traffic noise in the distance, but it was long enough for Ellis to grin in realization.

            “Yer afraid.”

            The squinting transformed into a glare. “Don’t be a fucking idiot.”

            “Holy shit,” Ellis followed up eloquently.

            “Overalls,” the conman spoke lowly but who he was trying to calm wasn’t clear, “I’ve had stitches and surgery before.”

            Yeah, he was ready to agree with that one and use it as a reason to dispute the now blatant phobia but he wasn’t so good with words so he just grinned some more.

            And Nick filled in the silence with his own words. “Stop smiling like a retard and get back in the car.”

            “I ain’t havin’ya in pain every time ya eat.”

            “You mean every time you want your dick sucked.”

            It was a ploy to transfer the embarrassment from one pair of shoulders to another. Usually it would work because Ellis wasn’t too fond of talking about sex in public but right now he couldn’t bring himself to care all that much.

            “That, too,” Ellis said, pulling at Nick’s arm again.

            “Would you knock it off? We’re in fucking public.”

            “Yeah, an’ yer actin’ like a _fucking_ brat,” he tried not to drag out the syllables so he could mimic his lover’s favorite cuss of the day. “What about the stuff I promised?”

            “You’d do them all anyway if I asked.”

            Which was true and Ellis didn’t know what else he could use as bait or even as a threat because the northerner could always throw him out of the apartment or something. Not that he would.

            He pulled again and the struggling erupted into a full on tug-of-war and Ellis, with the use of his thighs, clearly had the upper hand. Nick, who had been sitting in the car and therefore had no real leverage besides his weight (he wouldn’t dare to grab onto the expensive seats and ruin them), tumbled outward, managing to catch himself before he could ruin the knees of his slacks.

            “Ellis!”

            He shut the door immediately, not allowing the other man to bound back inside. When there was a moment of stillness he drew in a deep gasp and then huffed it out, not surprised by the outburst by the strength of his partner’s resistance. All this time the gambler must’ve really been going easy on him in their wrestling matches. Or he _really_ didn’t want to go inside.

            Alright, then. Ellis could try a new tactic if necessary.

            Nick stood and patted dirt and gravel from his clothes before turning to look into the car’s window.

            Ellis sat on the hood, just barely. “I juss don’t wantchya in pain, Nick.”

            No answer, but the conman’s crossed arms turned into pocketed hands.

            “Yer already hurtin’,” he continued, “an’ probably have dry socket er somethin’ an’ then it’ll get infected an’ ruin yer gums an’ then I’ll hafta drive ya back here fer somethin’ even worse that’ll cost ten times more.”

            Tense shoulders dropped.

            “Can we please go in, Nick?”

            “Yeah, fine, whatever.”

            Ellis grinned, knowing guilt and expenses would be enough to get his attention if the proper tone was used, and led him inside.

            And signing in and filling out the papers all went fine because Nick was too preoccupied jotting down their address and whatnot. But when he was finished and they sat for several stretching moments the older man’s leg began to bounce, he twisted his hands, and stared too hard at the rack of magazines across from him.

            So Ellis offered his hand, palm up.

            Nick chose to slap his own hand down on his thigh, just above the knee, instead. Though Ellis didn’t really know if he _meant_ to slap. But when the clutching and finger-digging started he figured he might’ve.

            “That’s my thigh, Nick.”

            “And? Now you know how my mouth feels.”

            “That’s ‘cause yer clenchin’ yer jaw.” Ellis reached up to touch it because the side facing him wasn’t the one wounded. Nick allowed him a moment before knocking him away.

            The door that separated the waiting room from the back opened and a woman in scrubs stepped out with a chart. “Nick?”

            The gambler sighed and stood, dropping his cell phone and wallet a little too forcibly into Ellis’ lap, and followed her through the door.

            Ellis looked around the room once, smiled at the secretary when they made eye contact, and then withdrew his own cell phone to settle into any random game so long as it helped to divert his boredom. Long minutes passed, maybe twenty or thirty, and he settled deeper into the game, tongue out in concentration as he tried to break the automatic high score.

            “OW! ASSHOLE!”

            His phone clattered to the floor as he jumped. He sighed and hunched in his seat and stared down at it, not sure whether to be embarrassed for himself or for his lover. He didn’t make eye contact with the secretary again.

 

            An hour or so later he decided on embarrassed.

            Nick came out, leaning heavily on a broad man with graying hair the redneck could only assume was his doctor. His eyes were barely open and the left side of his face looked extremely puffy.

            When Ellis moved to his side and slipped his coat back onto his shoulders the conman immediately clasped to him instead.

            “Just remind him only soft foods for a day when you drop him off,” the doctor said.

            “Well, I’m taking him home,” Ellis corrected with a frown, “so is there anythin’ else I needta know?”

            “Oh, I’m sorry,” the dentist amended. He reached to the secretary for Nick’s chart. “The tooth came out cleanly so that must’ve been some punch.”

            Ellis didn’t smile so the doctor continued.

            “Our main concern for the future was the crowding of his teeth.” He pulled out an x-ray. “The teeth around it may move in or it’s even possible for the tooth above to extend downwards to compensate for that space. So I managed to convince him to get an implant.”

            “He get it already?” Ellis tried to ignore the way his partner’s head rolled onto his shoulder.

            “Not yet. Today we took a cast mold so we can get the size of the gap between his teeth so we know how big to make the cap. Then we drilled—…” he waited out the redneck’s cringe. “Don’t worry, I had to give him something to even loosen him up first, as you can tell, and then I numbed the area.”

            Nick swiveled and gripped at the chest of Ellis’ shirt.

            “He ain’t fond-a dentists…”

            “Yeah, I got that when he called me an asshole.”

            The hick tried to look sheepish for the both of them.

            “After it kicked in we drilled into his jaw and placed a rod. The cap, which will look just like a tooth, will go over that. We just need his gums to heal up around the rod before we go any further so he’ll have to come back in a couple of months.”

            “Okay, is--…”

            “What about sex?” Nick interrupted, voice thick, slurred, and muffled by the gauze in his mouth and yet somehow abrasively loud.

            “Nick!”

            “What? I’m asking for your benefit, Overalls.” He began to pat and pet Ellis’ stomach.

            And Ellis tugged him towards the door.

            “You didn’t let him answer!”

            “Yer only allowed soft foods,” Ellis hissed below unwanted hearing range, “so Ikin imagine what we can’t do.”

            “That right?” Nick asked as if seriously considering this statement. He lost his balance once again at threshold of the office. “So no cock sucking, Doc?”

            Ellis, horrified, pulled him out by the collar of his jacket.

 

            The drive home had been less awkward but every bit as uncomfortable considering Nick had insisted on rolling the window down in the middle of a Midwestern fall which consisted of a temperature of 41 degrees. And the fact that he was all but hanging out the window didn’t help either.

            “Nick, get in here an’ roll up the window!”

            “I’m hot.”

            “It’s freezing out there!”

            “You’re cold?”

            “A’course I’m cold; I’m from Georgia!”

            Nick repositioned in his seat and pressed the button to raise the glass beside him back up into place. Barely two minutes later the northerner was huffing and ridding himself of his jacket.

            “It’s the drugs,” Ellis informed him. “You’ll be fine in a bit.”

            He waited a moment and then glanced over to catch clouded green irises staring back. He couldn’t read them and the expression on the surrounding face was so blank he couldn’t get any clues from it either.

            “What?” he asked, finally.

            Nick’s mouth opened in a lopsided grin which was _really_ lopsided considering the droop of the corner of his lips thanks to the drugs and the swell of his cheek because of the gauze.

            Ellis grinned back and didn’t try to hide his laugh: “What?”

            “I’m horny,” Nick said simply.

            So getting back up to their apartment was a wonderful fiasco in itself. For one, Nick not only abandoned his coat in the car because he was still hot but he continued to unbutton his shirt before they even got through the front doors.

            When they did poor Mrs. Conner and her young son were probably traumatized by the sight of Nick peeling the clothing from his shoulders and casting it away. Somehow Ellis managed to both catch it and smile at them apologetically before they rushed away.

            Upon entering the elevator which closed after him Ellis had just begun to fold the soft material when strong and warm, but lucid arms curled about his waist. Nick’s stubble brushed along his cheek and he instinctively turned his face to compensate.

            But when Nick tried to kiss his neck he had to grin, yet again because the gambler couldn’t get his mouth firm or round enough to qualify the touch as a kiss.

            Even in his stupor he seemed to realize as much and stepped back and when Ellis turned he had already placed his fingers in his mouth to pull out the gauze.

            It came out red and slick, dripping saliva.

            Ellis cringed. “That’s nasty, Nick.”

            The older man just made an indecent slurping noise when the doors behind him opened and continued down to their apartment.

            He went and threw out the gauze when Ellis let him in and with the obstruction gone and the door shut he gave a wobbled turn back to the younger survivor in order to continue his ministrations.

            The kiss was better, not by much, but Nick could at least round his mouth even if he probably couldn’t actually _feel_ their lips touching. So ultimately it was sloppy, too hard, too pushy, instead of the lingering lips he was used to. And when their mouths opened together Ellis had to draw back and away from the pungent taste of copper.

            “You taste like blood,” he explained to the confused, unsteady gaze.

            Nick slathered his mouth against the back of his hand and then stared at it; when he dropped it back down to his side Ellis watched the way the red glistened against his skin. When he looked back up his lover had taken to staring off, pale and almost unstable.

            “Don’t throw up.”

            “I’m not,” Nick soothed, eyelids fluttering and hands up as if to ease the already gentle command. “Got some Listerine.” He slurred over the last word and so Ellis felt compelled to follow him into the bathroom to watch him gurgle the blue liquid.

            “You should probably sleep off the drugs.”

            Nick peered around the hick’s body into their bedroom, regarding it as if he’d never seen it before. He stumbled towards the bed nevertheless, falling across the comforter with pants and shoes still in place.

            Which really was a transgression against his own rules so Ellis kneeled to divest him of his shoes and socks before he could proceed to get to his pants.

            He rolled Nick over with a huff and stopped to stare down at his partner who stared right back up, forehead crinkled, at the ceiling above them. He hovered there for a moment and all he could think about was how rare it was for him to see Nick so out of it.

            He wasn’t exactly vulnerable, his lust-driven antics proved that much, but he was something. Something Ellis wasn’t sure there was a word for or if there was it wasn’t one he knew.

            He liked it, though. He liked seeing Nick out of his element as much as he liked him in it, suave and articulate. Mostly because it reminded him the conman couldn’t handle everything on his own. Sometimes he needed help, whether he wanted it or not, and Ellis was person close enough to provide it.

            Green eyes blinked, lethargic and heavy and similarly characterized hands settled on Ellis’ hips.

            “Hey,” Nick said.

            “Hey. Lemme getchyer pants off, alright?”

            “Don’t have to ask me twice.” Ringed fingers fumbled with his belt however so, again, Ellis helped.

            He’d just managed to get them off fidgeting ankles when Nick encircled him, drew him up, and resumed their kiss.

            This time he tasted like strong mint and it was pleasant enough until a too-minty tongue jammed into his mouth and rolled and darted, fleeting with none of the skill he knew this particular muscle possessed.

            So he leaned away again and Nick gave a defeated grunt that Ellis hoped he’d remember later so he could mention it, and buried his face into the mechanic’s throat.

            “Fine, I won’t kiss your mouth,” he announced it like it was worth announcing before settling to a wet, messy work on the skin near his numb lips.

            The kisses floundered, his hands scraped too hard, and the leg he’d lifted between Ellis’ thighs had the effect of trapping him and pinching places that really shouldn’t have been pinched.

            And since he wasn’t getting hard he pushed at the broad shoulders before him until Nick relented back against the plush of the covers.

            When the gambler’s eyes didn’t close, just looked up at him from beneath drooped lids, he decided he could once again change tactics if it would really placate the older man.

            He didn’t move from his straddle above the hips below him, he just balanced himself long enough to take off his shirt and hat. And he let nick’s reaching hands pet his sides and stomachs too hard because he wanted to focus on rocking down against him anyway.

            Nick was sliding his fingers over the button of Ellis’ jeans then but he couldn’t seem to actually grasp it. So Ellis rolled to the side, cast it all away, and rolled back atop.

            He hunched his back to kiss Nick who surged his neck up to return the embrace. Ellis slipped his hands up, gently to push his lover’s numb jaw back down. And then he took over the kiss, playing his lips over the parallel pair without any dip of tongue or swapping of excess spit.

            They hummed against each other, rolled their hips, Ellis’ cock flush against the line of hair leading from Nick’s navel with his lover’s up and rubbing attention across his ass.

            Rough hands were petting and pressing him again, along his sides and then down to grab the globes of said ass like always but hard and almost painful like never.

            And for some reason, a reason that shamed him enough to make his ears burn, he moaned.

            Nick moaned back, a lower, grittier, possessive sound and pulsed the grip. And since there was no teasing or grinning to accompany it (hell, the drugged man probably wouldn’t even remember it when he woke up later anyway) Ellis moved back and forth into and away from it.

            He sucked the thin bottom lip beneath him between his own, wetting it with his tongue and once his teeth before letting it go.

            Nick bumped their noses together. “You like that?”

            “No,” Ellis whispered, hoping to curb the vocalization.

            “Well,” his lover breathed. “ _I_ like it.”

            Rocking harder into the touch, Ellis didn’t voice his curiosity, he left stating that up to his actions.

            “Yeah.” Nick breathed it out again and the redneck hoped he’d continue letting air and sound mingle out together. The hands squeezed again before one began to trail slowly upward along his side and then across his chest and up his throat and from under his chin to his lips. “And your mouth.”

            Ellis sucked in two of those fingers obediently, lathering the pads with his tongue and pinching the skin with his teeth before trailing over all of it with his lips as he drew back.

            “Jesus Christ, Ellis,” he murmured, rolling his thumb over and around the plump mouth in adoration while his other hand continued to fondle the hick’s ass with the same amount of reverence.

            Detaching himself, Ellis shimmed back down to the foot of the bed so he could lean over the conman’s upright cock and take it into his mouth. There was a stuttered grunt above him before Nick began to move his hips to rock back and forth within his mouth. And then the rocking turned into pumping and Ellis managed to take more thrusts than he thought he would before his eyes started to water and his throat constricted in a resounding gag.

            Nick stopped his motions and didn’t complain about the release of his erection, nor did he seem to care about (or maybe he hadn’t even heard) the unattractive sound. Instead he put his fingers around the length and pressed the crown to Ellis’ bottom lip. “Just the head.”

            Ellis sucked it in obligingly, closing his eyes and replacing Nick’s fingers with his own. When the older man demanded this it usually involved sucking only, but the hillbilly turned his head and wound his tongue across the bulb anyway.

            Strong fingers began to smooth his hair. “You’re getting so fucking good at this. Shit.”

            He tried to focus on his movements and not on the words. He tried to focus on breathing and not on the heat in his face. He tried to focus on Nick’s enjoyment instead of his trepidation.

            More fingers nudged his mouth away. “Close it.”

            Ellis did and closed his eyes when Nick began to trace the head along the outline of his lips and then along the crease between them. And he tried not to furrow his brow when his partner used the tip to drag his bottom lip down.

            He waited a moment to look up and when he did he met those half-lidded eyes again and he followed the tug at his neck up towards them. He detoured away from the mouth that sought his however, reaching out to drawers beside the bed to bring out the lube.

            He poured it over Nick’s cock, rubbed it into place, didn’t care that it was dripping or that his hand was covered in it, just that it was where it needed to be and then so was he, slipping down without any preparation because if he went slow, and slow, and slower, then, yes, he could get it all in and let Nick’s own girth prepare him enough for its use.

            But Nick was done with the preparation and his hands just about cracked to the hick’s hips as he surged up and up and Ellis couldn’t go down because it was just that strong of a movement. And dimly he was aware of his voice sounding with the effort and the pounding but it was obscured by the sound of the slurping lube because they’d used too much and it was awkward and borderline disgusting and if they had just began it might’ve turned him off but now he was so far gone and the thick cock in him was angled almost right…

            Nick’s movements stopped as suddenly as they began, his chest heaving up and down in exhaustion, but his hands didn’t relent their grip on his sides.

            Timidly Ellis rocked his hips forward, not allowing the dick to slip out of him but to slip around in him, against every curve and wall until he was breathless and rolling back and forth and _down_ hard and Nick’s head was back.

            “So fucking good at it,” the conman repeated, grunting and swallowing. “Still so fucking tight.”

            The mechanic bowed his head and wrapped his still lubricated fingers around his own erection, working at the tip frantically to the rhythm and depth of his lover’s voice.

            “Fucking--…Ellis, you get all hot for it.”

            Nick jolted up with another sick suction of lube and the southerner rode it out, moaning from the back of his throat and closing his eyes and somewhere in the middle of making the sound his head had fallen back.

            Nails bit into his hips hard enough to leave crescent red marks above the blue and black bruising that would rise later. “And you _never_ moan like that but shit I _love_ it.” Hips spasmed beneath him in orgasm.

            And that was it, whether he wanted to moan again just to please the older survivor was irrelevant; nothing could stop the sound that rolled out from between his lips or the jerking of his muscles or the squirting of his seed over the chest and stomach beneath him.

            They stopped together and Ellis had to lift himself away gingerly to fall beside Nick, panting and embarrassed and wanting to hide his face in a pillow.

            After several moments of doing as much he drew the cushioning away from his mouth. “I think that was the worst sex we’ve ever had.”

            There was no answer and when he looked Nick had already fallen asleep.

 

            Ellis looked up from his cell phone game three months later as Nick entered their apartment, looking normal and calm.

            “You skipped out on the dentist, didn’tchya?”

            “No,” the ex-con rolled his eyes and flicked the hat from his head as he passed by to stand behind the couch. “They just put the cap into place. They didn’t need to drug me.”

            “That’s good,” Ellis murmured, eyes back on his game. “Youkin eat hard food an’ stuff, right?”

            “And suck dicks if I want,” Nick responded lowly from somewhere above his head, a smile evident by the all-too-amused tone.

            “Shaddup.”

            “Why? You getting hot for it?”

            Ellis dropped his cell phone and this time it clattered into pieces.


End file.
